Golf club head

ABSTRACT

A golf club head including a body and a striking plate is provided. The body has an opening. The striking plate is disposed at the opening. The striking plate integrally formed has a striking surface exposed to the outside, a non-striking surface opposite to the striking surface, and multiple ribs spread on the non-striking surface. The thickness of the striking plate is between 1.5-4 mm. The thickness of each rib is between 0.1-3.5 mm. The ribs intersect in the region of which the center of a circle is the geometric center of the non-striking surface and of which the diameter is 20 mm.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan application serial no. 95213718, filed Aug. 4, 2006. All disclosure of the Taiwan application is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of Invention

The present invention relates to a golf club head. More particularly, the present invention relates to a golf club head with a striking plate having a plurality of ribs.

2. Description of Related Art

With the popularity of sports in today's society, golf has become one of the favorite sports widely accepted by the masses, and more and more people participate in the golf sports, wherein golf clubs can be classified into wooden clubs, iron clubs, putters, and so on according to various fields and usage.

As for the wooden club, a golf club head is usually fabricated by a body made of a metal material or carbon fiber and a striking plate integrated with the body as a whole for striking a golf ball. The golf club head has a specific specification and limitation in size and weight, so as to provide a desired control and striking effect when striking the golf ball. Therefore, in accordance with different requirements in use, in the design of the golf club head, usually the basic architecture of the body and the striking plate or the combination constitution thereof must be changed to achieve the optimal design.

As far as the coefficient of restitution (COR) of the striking plate is concerned, the thickness of the golf club head is in inverse proportion to the COR of the striking plate. In other words, the less the thickness of the striking plate is, the higher the COR of the striking plate is. However, the COR region of the striking plate with uniform thickness is usually in the central region of the striking plate, and the durability of the striking plate is degraded as the thickness thereof is reduced. Therefore, the COR region of the striking plate of the conventional golf club head is smaller and the striking plate thereof may be easily damaged.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, one objective of the present invention is to provide a golf club head, in which the COR region of the striking plate is larger and the durability of the striking plate is better.

In order to achieve aforementioned or other objectives, the present invention provides a golf club head, which comprises a body and a striking plate. The body has an opening. The striking plate is disposed at the opening. The striking plate integrally formed has a striking surface exposed to the outside, a non-striking surface opposite to the striking surface, and a plurality of ribs spread on the non-striking surface. The thickness of the striking plate is between 1.5-4 mm. The thickness of each rib is between 0.1-3.5 mm. The ribs intersect in the region of which the center of a circle is the geometric center of the non-striking surface and of which the diameter is 20 mm.

In one embodiment of the present invention, each of the ribs is strip-shaped.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the striking plate is formed by means of punching, casting, or forging.

Based upon the above description, with the ribs of the striking plate of the present invention, the strength of the striking plate of the present invention can be improved, thereby improving the durability of the striking plate of the present invention. Furthermore, the non-striking surface of the striking plate of the present invention is partitioned into a plurality of sub-regions by the ribs, so the COR region of the striking plate of the present invention is larger as a whole. Moreover, since the striking plate of the present invention is integrally formed, the manufacturing method thereof is simpler and the manufacturing cost is lower.

In order to make the aforementioned and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention comprehensible, preferred embodiments accompanied with figures are described in detail below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic exploded stereo view of the golf club head according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic rear view of the striking plate in FIG. 1.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are schematic flow views of manufacturing the striking plate in FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, FIG. 1 is a schematic exploded stereo view of the golf club head according to an embodiment of the present invention and FIG. 2 is a schematic rear view of the striking plate in FIG. 1. The golf club head 200 of the present embodiment comprises a body 210 and a striking plate 220. The body 210 has an opening 212. In the present embodiment, the body 210 is a shell made of a common metal material (such as stainless steel) and being integrally formed by means of lost-wax casting.

Definitely, in other embodiments of the present invention, the body 210 can also made of composite material of metal and high molecular plastic material or high strength fiber material (such as carbon fiber). A manufacturing process of the body 210 includes the following steps. A crown (not shown) is first independently manufactured by means of, for example, injection molding or thermal compression molding, and then embedded into other portions of the metal shell. Furthermore, another manufacturing process of the body 210 includes the following steps. A carbon fiber prepreg is directly attached on the hollow-out portion of the metal shell and then heated by the use of a mold and an air bag so as to forming the body 210.

The striking plate 220 is disposed at the opening 212 to compose the golf club head 200 together with the body 210. The striking plate 220 has a striking surface 222, a non-striking surface 224, and a plurality of ribs 226. The ribs may be in the shape of long strips. The striking surface 222 and the non-striking surface 224 are opposite to each other, the striking surface 222 is exposed to the outside, and the ribs 226 are spread on the non-striking surface 224. The thickness D of the striking plate 220 is between 1.5-4 mm, and the thickness H of each rib 226 is between 0.1-3.5 mm. The ribs 226 intersect in the region 224 a of which the center of a circle is the geometric center of the non-striking surface 224 and of which the diameter is 20 mm. Furthermore, the thickness H of each rib 226 can be greater than or equal to 0.1 mm and smaller than or equal to 3.5 mm, and the thickness D of the striking plate 220 can be greater than or equal to 1.5 mm and smaller than or equal to 4 mm.

It should be noted that the ribs 226 of the striking plate 220 can improve the strength of the striking plate 220, thereby improving the durability of the striking plate 220. Furthermore, the non-striking surface 222 of the striking plate 220 of the present invention is partitioned into a plurality of sub-regions 224 b by the ribs 226, and each sub-region 224 b further reduces the thickness D of the striking plate 220 due to the strengthening effect of the ribs 226 thereby improving the capability of restitution. Therefore, the central portion of each of the sub-regions 224 b is formed into a high COR region, and the high COR region of the striking plate 220 is larger as a whole.

In the present embodiment, the material of the striking plate. 220 is monatomic metal or alloy. It should be noted that the body 210 and the striking plate 220 can be jointed by means of embedding and/or welding. Furthermore, before disposing the striking plate 220, a solder may be coated on the junction of the body 210 and the striking plate 220 in advance. Afterwards, the striking plate 220 is disposed at the opening 212 of the body 210 and then welded, such that a welding layer (not shown) connecting the body 210 and the striking plate 220 is formed after the solder is melted and cooled down. Additionally, in another embodiment, the striking plate 220 is disposed at the opening 212 of the body 210 and then the solder is coated on the seam of the junction of the body 210 and the striking plate 220. After being melted and getting into the junction, the solder is then cooled down and solidifies into a welding layer (not shown).

The method of manufacturing the body 210 of the golf club head 200 and the method of assembling the body 210 and the striking plate 220 are described in the above illustration, and then the method of manufacturing the striking plate 220 is illustrated in detail below. FIGS. 3A and 3B are schematic flow views of manufacturing the striking plate in FIG. 1. The method of manufacturing the striking plate 220 in the present embodiment comprises the steps as follows. First, referring to FIG. 3A, a work piece 20 is provided, which can be a metal plate. Then, referring to FIG. 3B, the work piece 20 is processed to form a striking plate 220 with a plurality of ribs 226. In the present invention, the striking plate 220 can be integrally formed. For example, the striking plate 220 with the ribs 226 can be formed by means of punching, casting, or forging.

In view of the above, the method of manufacturing the golf club head and the striking plate of the present invention has at least the following advantages.

1. The striking plate of the present invention is provided with the ribs, thereby improving the strength of the striking plate of the present invention and the durability of the striking plate of the present invention.

2. The non-striking surface of the striking plate of the present invention is partitioned into a plurality of sub-regions by the ribs, so each sub-region further reduces the thickness of the striking plate due to the strengthening effect of the ribs, thereby improving the capability of restitution. Therefore, the central portion of each sub-region is formed into the high COR region, and the high COR region of the striking plate is larger as a whole.

3. Since the striking plate of the present invention is integrally formed, the manufacturing method thereof is simpler and the manufacturing cost is lower.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations of this invention provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents. 

1. A golf club head, comprising: a body, having an opening; and a striking plate, disposed at the opening, wherein the striking plate integrally formed has a striking surface exposed to the outside, a non-striking surface opposite to the striking surface, and a plurality of ribs spread on the non-striking surface, the thickness of the striking plate is between 1.5-4 mm, the thickness of each of the ribs is between 0.1-3.5 mm, and the ribs intersect in the region of which the center of a circle is the geometric center of the non-striking surface and of which the diameter is 20 mm.
 2. The golf club head as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the ribs is strip-shaped.
 3. The golf club head as claimed in claim 1, wherein the striking plate is formed by means of punching, casting, or forging. 